A day after losing to Hochul, Blakeman's transgender sports ban is struck down by a New York court

A New York appeals court has struck down Nassau County's ban on transgender women and girls competing on women's teams at county-owned sports facilities, ruling on November 4 that the county law conflicts with state anti-discrimination statutes. The decision came one day after Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who signed the ban and made it part of his campaign, lost the governor's race to Gov. Kathy Hochul. The county says it intends to keep appealing. The ruling also highlights a split that the U.S. Supreme Court left open in June: federal law now allows states to limit girls' and women's teams by biological sex, but it does not require them to, and New York's own laws point the other way.

What the Appellate Division decided#

The four-judge panel of the Appellate Division, Second Department, reversed a Nassau County trial court that had upheld the law. Its decision and order is dated November 4, 2026. The court held that the state Human Rights Law and Civil Rights Law section 40-c "expressly prohibit the County from restricting access to places of public accommodation based on a person's gender identity or expression, including whether the person identifies as transgender."

The court did not weigh the fairness or safety arguments behind the ban. Its reasoning was about the limits of local power. Under the state constitution and the Municipal Home Rule Law, a county may pass laws for the welfare of its residents but may not adopt a local law that is inconsistent with a general state law. Because state law bars discrimination based on gender identity in public accommodations, the court found the county's permit rules "invalid as preempted." The panel sent the case back to the trial court to enter a judgment declaring the local law invalid.

The decision was unanimous among the four justices who heard it: Betsy Barros, Deborah A. Dowling, Barry E. Warhit and Lisa S. Ottley. The case was argued on October 15, 2026.

What the Nassau law did#

The county legislature passed Local Law No. 3-2024 in 2024. The decision quotes its key provision. It barred the use of county park property "for the purposes of organizing a sporting event or competition that allows athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls to include biological males as competitors." In practice, a women's team or league that included transgender women could not get a permit for county fields and rinks.

The law grew out of an earlier executive order. According to the New York Post, Blakeman signed the order on February 22, 2024, covering the county's roughly 100 ballfields and athletic facilities. A state judge ruled later that year that he lacked the authority to impose the policy without the legislature, and the Republican-led county legislature then passed the local law. Daily Voice reported that the legislature approved it in June 2024.

The group most affected was the Long Island Roller Rebels, an adult recreational women's roller derby league based in Nassau. The New York Civil Liberties Union sued on the league's behalf in 2024. Attorney General Letitia James filed a separate suit in July 2024. Gothamist reported that the same appeals court had temporarily blocked the ban in October 2025 while the cases continued, and that the court ruled for the challengers in both suits on November 4.

1. Feb. 22, 2024Blakeman signs an executive order covering county sports facilities
2. 2024A state judge rules the order needed legislative approval
3. June 2024The county legislature passes Local Law No. 3-2024
4. July 2024Attorney General James sues the county
5. Oct. 15, 2025A Nassau trial court upholds the law
6. Oct. 2025The Appellate Division temporarily blocks the ban pending appeal
7. June 30, 2026The U.S. Supreme Court upholds Idaho and West Virginia school-sports laws
8. Oct. 15, 2026The appeal is argued
9. Nov. 4, 2026The Appellate Division rules the local law preempted by state law

Source: Appellate Division decision, New York Post, Gothamist

Why the Supreme Court's June ruling did not decide this case#

On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox that states may limit girls' and women's school sports teams to biological females. Writing for the majority, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the Constitution and Title IX "do not require an overhaul of women's and girls' sports throughout America," according to SCOTUSblog's account of the decision. The justices agreed unanimously that the laws did not violate Title IX but split 6-3 on the constitutional question. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in dissent that the majority "inflicts a hardship on those it disfavors without giving them the fair and full opportunity the Constitution requires to litigate their contentions."

That ruling settled what federal law permits. It did not decide what a state's own law requires. The Nassau case turned entirely on New York statutes, which list gender identity or expression as a protected category in public accommodations. In June, James said the Supreme Court decision would not affect the county fight, according to the Post, while Blakeman praised the ruling and said Hochul was "forcing biological males onto their teams."

The national picture is therefore uneven. Kavanaugh's opinion noted that 27 states, the NCAA and the U.S. and International Olympic committees have drawn the line at biological sex. Other states, New York among them, have laws that courts read as protecting transgender people's access to public facilities. Our earlier coverage of four state ballot measures on sex-based school sports rules shows how the question has moved from courts to voters in several states.

The case for the ban, in its supporters' words#

Blakeman has framed the policy as protecting women and girls. "We made history in Nassau County when I signed the nation's first executive order protecting girls' sports," he said in a June 30 statement reported by the Post. "Today, the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutional rights of women and girls to be protected from unfair and unsafe competition by biological males." When the measure was enacted, he said, "we will protect women from bullying by transgender males," according to ABC7 New York.

Supporters point to physical differences between the sexes. Caitlyn Jenner, the 1976 Olympic decathlon champion, appeared with Blakeman in 2024 to back the ban. "There are massive advantages and undeniable differences from male development, basically going through male puberty," she said, as quoted by the Post. "The solution is simple: when it comes to athletics… you have to compete in the biological sex in which you were born." The Supreme Court majority relied on similar reasoning about "safety and competitive fairness" in upholding the Idaho and West Virginia laws.

Supporters of the county's position also argue that local officials should be able to set rules for their own facilities. The appellate ruling rejects that view as a matter of state law, but it is the core of the county's argument that a county executive and legislature were acting within their police power.

The case against the ban, in its opponents' words#

James and the NYCLU argued that the ban was discrimination prohibited by state law. "Nobody should have to fight to play the game they love," James said in a November 4 statement. "Transgender athletes have the right to play on the court, field, or roller rink like everyone else." She added that "Bruce Blakeman was just trying to stop athletes from playing with their teammates."

Gabriella Larios is a senior staff attorney at the NYCLU. She told ABC7 that the ban "is aimed at excluding trans people from places they have grown up, from communities that they feel safe in." The league's president, who uses the derby name Curly Fry, said in a statement reported by Daily Voice that "trans people belong in Nassau County."

Opponents also note who the law reached. The litigation centered on an adult recreational roller derby league, not a school or college team with scholarships or titles at stake. In their view, that made the county's fairness and safety rationale weaker than the one the Supreme Court weighed for school sports. Supporters respond that the law applied to all women's events on county property, and that the same principles of fairness apply at every level of competition.

What New York voters have said in polls#

The most recent representative statewide poll we found on the issue is not about county facilities. A Siena College poll of 805 registered New York voters, conducted May 12 to 15, 2025, asked about transgender girls on girls' school sports teams. It used a mix of phone, text-to-web and online panel interviews, weighted to state demographics and party registration, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.

0%

20%

40%

60%

All districts should ban46%

Leave it to each district23%

All districts should allow22%

All districts should banLeave it to each districtAll districts should allow

Source: Siena College Research Institute, poll of 805 registered voters, May 12-15, 2025

Show the numbers

Response	Share of voters
All districts should ban	46%
Leave it to each district	23%
All districts should allow	22%

Siena found sharp partisan differences. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans and 54% of independents favored a ban in all districts, while Democrats were split, 32% for a ban and 31% for allowing participation everywhere. Siena reported no gender gap but a difference by age: voters under 35 were closely divided, while 54% of voters 55 and older favored a ban. The poll is more than a year old, predates the Supreme Court ruling and asked about schools rather than adult leagues, so it shows the shape of state opinion rather than a verdict on this law.

What comes next for the county and for Blakeman#

Nassau County Attorney Thomas Adams said the county is "reviewing the decision with the intention to continue the appeals process," according to Gothamist and ABC7. The next step would be the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. Larios told Gothamist that the court is not guaranteed to take the case and called a further appeal "an uphill battle."

Blakeman remains county executive after losing the 2026 New York governor's race to Kathy Hochul. He raised the issue during the campaign, including in his June statement criticizing Hochul. Because the ruling rests on state statutes, a different outcome would have to come from the Court of Appeals or from a change in state law, not from the county.

The attorney general's office, led by Letitia James, brought one of the two winning suits. This report did not review campaign finance records for James, Hochul or Blakeman. They are state and local officials who file with the New York State Board of Elections, not the Federal Election Commission, and this story does not concern their financial interests.

Methods and limits#

This report is based on the Appellate Division's decision and order, the attorney general's statement and Siena College's poll release. It also draws on SCOTUSblog's summary of the Supreme Court opinions and reporting by Gothamist, ABC7 New York, Daily Voice and the New York Post. Statements by Blakeman and Jenner are quoted from the Post's reporting. We did not find a statement from Blakeman himself responding to the November 4 ruling; the county's response came from its attorney. The trial court's 2025 opinion was not reviewed directly.

Differing perspectives

Should Nassau County be able to bar women's teams that include transgender women from county sports facilities?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Keep the county's ban

  Who holds it: Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, the county attorney's office, the Republican-led county legislature and supporters such as Caitlyn Jenner

  Supporters argue that physical differences from male puberty give transgender women an advantage in strength and speed, so mixed competition is unfair and can be unsafe for women and girls. They point to the Supreme Court's June 2026 ruling that states may limit girls' and women's teams to biological females, and to the many states and sports bodies that draw the same line. They say a county should be able to protect fair competition on facilities it owns and permits.

  In their words: New York Post, quoting Bruce Blakeman and Caitlyn Jenner ↗

• Strike down the ban under state law

  Who holds it: Attorney General Letitia James, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Long Island Roller Rebels league

  Opponents argue that New York's Human Rights Law and Civil Rights Law forbid public facilities from excluding people because of gender identity, and that a county cannot override those statutes. They say the ban kept a recreational adult roller derby league from playing with its own teammates in the communities where they live and work, without evidence of harm. In their view, transgender athletes have the same right as anyone else to take part in public life, including sports.

  In their words: Office of the New York Attorney General ↗

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